THE BY-PATH.
1. In their journey Mr. World and Miss Church-Member come to the By-Path
leading to the King’s Highway; on this Miss Church-Member urges Mr.
World to travel. He defers so decisive a step and defends his attitude
by the use of sophistry.
2. Miss Church-Member, still hoping to win Mr. World to a better path,
forsakes the King’s Highway and continues in his company.
3. A tilt with Blackana who defends Miss Church-Member for traveling
on the Broad Highway.
The highway of the world was so broad that one could walk thereon as
loosely as he wished without fear of stepping from it. Along the way
there were so many things to attract the attention that the farther
Miss Church-Member journeyed with Mr. World, the less frequently she
looked toward the King’s Highway. However, her face brightened and her
hopes waxed strong as they suddenly came to a place where two ways met.
With quick insight Miss Church-Member saw that the By-Path was a blessed
one and that it led directly to the King’s Highway.
“Let us follow this shining path,” she hopefully suggested. “I know
it leads to the way of light and glory.”
“Not such a path, my friend,” hastily replied Mr. World. “Do you not
see the terrible hill to which it leads, and those who are even now
struggling to climb its arduous heights?”
“I clearly see it all,” she calmly admitted, “but they who struggle
most are endeavoring to carry many idols with them. If one will forsake
his idols, he can, with ease and pleasure, mount to the shining summit
which is but the edge of the King’s glorious Highway. Come, Mr. World,
hesitate no more. Let procrastination end, and go with me even to the
hill, and I will help you to the summit--while Another will help you
more.”
“Very true, very true,” he said, though somewhat irritated, “but we
have not yet come to the place where I may wisely follow your advice.
This path turning away to the right leads to a place that may seem
bright from this point, but nevertheless I know it to be a narrow,
rugged way, whereon a few of your friends are trudging, eking out a
miserable existence. Urge me not to go thither. If you leave me, I can
neither accompany you nor give you my assistance. Surely you have
learned, ere this, that your needs are of such a nature that you must
inevitably suffer embarrassment without my little help.”
Miss Church-Member, with eyes but partly open to her own folly, was
grievously perplexed and not a little disappointed. She fell on her
knees and wept. Looking up pleadingly into his eyes, she faltered:
“Twice have I yielded to you since we entered into companionship. You
well remember the solemn promise you made, but at each time you deferred
its fulfillment, and now I must again hear your vain excuses. I have
suffered much for your sake, and have now the enmity of many a former
friend, and even my pilgrim robe is becoming stained with the filth
of this way.”
“Come, come, my friend, be a woman and not a sickly suppliant. The
portion of the King’s Highway which we would reach from this point is
too rough for my feet to travel. We will shortly come to a more
convenient place; then I can think more seriously of leaving this way.”
“Ah!” sighed Miss Church-Member, “you say that in your folly. I can
testify, from knowledge, that the way is most delightful and leads to
mansions incorruptible in the Celestial City.” “Let us cease debating,”
interrupted Mr. World, with ill-concealed impatience. “If you have
sacrificed so much through my fellowship and imagine that you can find
better company, you may leave, but you cannot expect me to accompany
you on so thorny and rough a path as this which you have so foolishly
proposed.”
Strengthened by the remnants of Christian virtue yet within her, she
sprang to her feet and was about to execute her noble purpose of leaving
him. But a number of Mr. World’s friends quickly rallied and
complimented Miss Church-Member on the good she had already done. “Mr.
World is a better man since he has known you,” said one. “If you will
continue walking with him on his own level, no one can estimate the
amount of good you will yet do for him,” hopefully spoke another.
These unexpected testimonies aroused anew her missionary spirit and
changed her thoughts to these yielding sentences:
“No sacrifice is too great, if victory but comes at last. If there is
hope that Mr. World will cease deceiving me and walk in the path of
truth, I will consent to be his companion still a little farther.”
“There is every hope of that,” smilingly returned Mr. World as he
suavely bowed to her and to the little group of companions who had
given him such timely help.
As I saw Mr. World and Miss Church-Member moving on, in closer
fellowship than ever, I waxed warm with indignation, and addressed
Blackana who was still lying at my side as motionless as the strata
of the rock-ribbed earth:
“Will you explain to me this folly of Miss Church-Member, who has not
only disgraced her cause before the fiendish Mr. World, but who also
continues with him in such unseemly intimacy?”
“Miss Church-Member is not walking in folly. She is engaged in a noble
work, endeavoring to elevate Mr. World to a higher Christian life,”
was the answer from the lips of Blackana in a low, heavy voice.
“Ah,” said I, with a feeling of suspicion, “she is shining from the
wrong lighthouse. The rays of truth will never reach him as long as
she is in that position.
“Perhaps they might in a miraculous way,” suggested Blackana.
“No good miracle is ever done in the steps of the Devil or in his
dominions,” I answered with boldness.
Then did Blackana enlarge himself, and as he replied he looked down
upon me significantly. “O puny mortal, instruct me not in the miracles
of my master. More great things are done under the canopies of Hell
than mortals ever know.”
At first I was filled with alarm, but under the voice of One invisible
I rose as with superhuman strength, and I looked at him unflinchingly.
“O horrible creature! I fear you not in any of your passions. You would
even destroy me if you could, but you are forever restrained by the
Power that holds authority over all!”
There was a sudden rustling, unlike anything I had ever heard. The
uncanny creature dashed toward me in his awful fury. But I moved not,
neither was I touched. Then I stretched forth my hand and commanded
him, in the name of One who is supreme, to cease his foolish ragings,
else would he be instantly flung through the wastes of Hell.
Blackana, knowing his limit, as all foul fiends do, dared to venture
no further in his rage, but calmed himself and, with unexpected
civility, he addressed me. He told me, in close detail, how Mr. World,
by his binding promises to his companion, had played the part of folly
rather than Miss Church-Member who did nothing more than enter upon
a more convenient and a Broader Way to heaven, and that, too, in good
company.
“And what think you,--will Mr. World ever fulfill his binding promises?”
“Do not doubt it, sir. Mr. World is an honorable gentleman. His promises
are always fulfilled.
“A lie! A lie! Can you not speak the truth?”
Again he was about to rise into terrible proportions when a great hand
moved the door on its hinges. Blackana, interpreting that movement
better than I, continued in dread restraint. I looked again upon the
Broad Highway, and saw how Mr. World had so completely won the
confidence of Miss Church-Member that she now frequently expressed her
sense of obligation to him, and declared that he was not so mean a
fellow as some alleged, and as she had been inclined to believe.
“Pray, tell me who seeks to injure my good reputation?” he courteously
asked.
“It has long been current talk on the King’s Highway that you are
deceitful and treacherous, and that you aim to lead people to ruin.
You well know that I hoped, by mutual association, to win you to a
better path. I find, even after some painful errors on my part, that
you are not so much in need of reformation as I imagined. You are a
very considerate and clever fellow, doubtless under the sway of a moral
evolution, and whether I stay with you, or you go with me, it is now,
to my mind, quite evident that you will soon reach a perfect condition.”
The wily Mr. World chuckled. “You are newly endowed with the gift of
a wisdom whose inward glory has lent its brightness to your eye, and
has given savor to your very words. If you continue in your present
state of liberality and broad-mindedness, you will not only share all
that I possess, but will wear a crown set with gems of truth.”